Augmented Reality: Sci-Fi or tangible reality?
Sci-fi movie like Minority Report and Avatar are only few examples of thrilling movies that have astonished people from all over the world. Yet, the plots are not the only aspect that have impressed the audience. Who is Tony Stark without is pioneering suit? Would we fear the robot-killers from Terminator if they did not dispose of unthinkable technologies for our times? How many of us had fun imaging to be teleported at the word “Energy”, just like Star Trek characters?
Directors like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron proposed ultra-modern technologies which brought people’s imagination off the edge. Generally, the public opinion considers such devices as impossible to be realized, at least in the next future. On the contrary, some of these technologies have not been only projected, but have been already implemented for military and civil uses.
But what do we know to be real and not longer Sci-Fi?
Marvel’s characters use casually Augmented Reality as part of their everyday life and we will probably do the same. Indeed, Augmented Reality is surely the futuristic device that is most likely to be sold in mass in the next years. In the following paragraphs, I will make a few example of Augmented Reality that is not only employed in the movies.
BACK TO THE FUTURE II
In the famous sequel of Back to the Future, Marty McFlys (Micheal J.Fox) travels into the future and decides to go seeing how his neighbor has changed along the years. It is in that moment that the audience has a look at the curious devices at McFlys’ future house, such as the goggles that Marty Jr. uses to command the flying garden.
It is exactly from that scene that Microsoft has taken the idea for its Hololens, helmets for the augmented reality already available online for three years and soon part of the Italian market too. Now, this product finds demand only in the professional field because of its high price and poor civil employment. Indeed, the Hololens are very helpful regarding the maintenance and repair of firm equipment, where is necessary to have both hands free. They also give direct access to complex instruction manuals or to directly open the communication with a distant operator. While international organizations such as WWF and Save The Children deploy augmented reality to immerse their public into fascinating experiences.
SCI-FI OR REALITY? KINGSMAN
How can Terminator find Sarah Connor? Or the people whose cloth size corresponded to Schwarzenegger? Augmented reality or Sci-Fi?
James Cameron always makes use of augmented reality in his movies where several innovators have found inspirations. Since 2014, Google is distributing ‘Google Glasses’, the most recent version of the Terminator technology. Among the many functions they can read online websites and news, check up the social network, view maps and directions through Google Maps, videoconferences, take pictures and videos to share and much more. However, the closest Hollywood representation of augmented reality is probably Kingsman, the newest spy action movie with Colin Firth. For example, we recall the videoconference in which the agents, sit at the table, can see and talk to each other through their glasses.
IRON MAN
Tony Stark’s astonishing suit is a perfect example of how Augmented Reality is developed and deployed in the military section. Irobot is among the first companies which made augmented reality accessibly to the young public, in a simplest version. Instead of pushing guys and girls to stay indoors and play with their robot remotely, they preferred to place extra features and extensions for the games outdoors obliging the players to leave the mouse down and go outside.
THE AVENGERS
Do you remember the final scene where Tony Stark works on a new project for the Stark Tower? Augmented reality found its way into the building field, which usually tends to prefer working in the old-fashion way. A recent example is Gilbane Building Company, placed in the USA, which few years ago decided to start working with the Hololens and already it contemplates the advantages.
Once one of the directors, after observing a project with this instrument, realized that the metal cornice that they purchased where too long. Thanks to this, he could modify the order before it arrived at the construction site, saving not only time but also money.
Just as in the movie, the architects can move their fingers to zoom in the details, click on tools around the current surroundings (such as accessing to the latest project version in scale). In this way, they can enter in and out the building and observe it in its complexity or analyze the details (such as, the service networks).
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